Camera modules have been incorporated into a variety of consumer electronics devices, including smart phones, mobile audio players, personal digital assistants, and both portable and desktop computers. These devices, however, have a relatively low profile or rise (e.g. height as defined along the z-axis) and therefore components housed within these devices (e.g. camera modules) must also have a relatively low rise.
A typical camera module, however, includes several components, which are typically stacked one on top of the other. For example, a camera module generally includes an optical system used to collect and transmit light from an imaged scene to an image sensor. The image sensor is typically mounted on top of an integrated circuit die or substrate. The image sensor is electrically connected to interconnects formed within the substrate by wires bonded between a pixel area side of the image sensor (e.g. a top side) and the substrate. The optical system, which may include a lens barrel having at least one or more lenses and a voice coil motor assembly, is stacked on top of the image sensor. The stacking of each of these components one on top of another, however, adds to the overall z-height of the camera module. In addition, the use of wires to connect the image sensor to the substrate may undesirably increase the overall x, y and z dimensions of the camera module because, for example, additional space may be needed between the image sensor and the substrate to accommodate the wires and bonding of the wires to the substrate surface.